


Last Chance

by YunaYamiMouto



Series: Worlds Collide [4]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, BAMF Tony Stark, Comic Book Science, Comic References, Crying, Depressed Peter Parker, Depressed Stephen Strange, Dimesnion Hopping, Don't Like Don't Read, Everybody Lives, Fix-It, Fix-It of Sorts, Future Tony Stark/Stephen Strange, Infinity Gems, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Loki (Marvel) Gets a Hug, Loki (Marvel) Lives, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Major Character Undeath, Minor Tony Stark/Stephen Strange, Natasha Romanov Lives, Natasha Romanov Needs a Hug, Natasha Romanov gets a hug, Poor Vision (Marvel), Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Potential pre-DrPepperony, References to Depression, Reunited and It Feels So Good, Sorcerer Tony Stark, Stephen Strange is a Good Bro, Tears, Temporary Character Death, The world is saved but not quite, Tony Angst, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony Stark Fix Things, Tony Stark Gets a Hug, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Lives, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Vision (Marvel) Lives, Vision Needs A Hug, but then not, he gets one, lots of 'em, temporary major character death, two tony starks, until it is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:41:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24038302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YunaYamiMouto/pseuds/YunaYamiMouto
Summary: The Snap was reversed and yet the world is in turmoil, mourning the hero that had saved them.With one finger, he had sent a great man to his death and Stephen is struggling to live with it. There was no other way.But the danger is far from over, as he learns when he discovers an unexpected guest in his bed.Or: My Endgame meets Avengers Endgame
Relationships: Bruce Banner & Clint Barton & Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark & Thor, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov, Jarvis (Iron Man movies) & Tony Stark, Loki & Thor (Marvel), Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe) & Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe) & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark & Stephen Strange, Tony Stark & Avengers Team, Tony Stark & Stephen Strange, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange, Wanda Maximoff/Vision
Series: Worlds Collide [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1709506
Comments: 30
Kudos: 251
Collections: EGFixIts





	Last Chance

**Author's Note:**

> A self-indulgence I needed after first watching Avengers Endgame, originally posted 27.08.2019.
> 
> Continuation of Endgame!

At first, the world was celebrating, even while the battle at the Avengers Compound was still being fought. People all around the universe were being reunited with those they had thought forever lost to them after the snap, hugging and kissing and crying five years worth of pain. The Compound was far enough away from any other settlement that no one even knew there was a fight to begin with until it was over and the Avengers - the whole lot of them who had fought Thanos and his army, _twice_ now - made the announcement. There was cheers of victory and celebration that followed Captain America saying the Mad Titan was dead, only for a shocked, unbelieving silence to follow as Steve Rogers grit out in a heavy, mournful, tearful voice that it was all thanks to their _late comrade_ , Tony Stark, the Iron Man they had loved so much for the past fifteen years.

And just like that, the world was mourning.

Oh, first, there was disbelief, certainly. After all, you can't so easily kill _Tony Stark_. The man had returned from the most impossible situations and he had lived, a little worse for wear, a little more weary, but he had always come out _alive_. People didn't want to believe it. They just didn't. How could they believe it when this was supposed to be a happy ending? The Snap was reversed! It was over now. They wanted Rogers to be kidding, a cruel, tasteless joke, but a jest either way.

Because how could this be a happy ending when it was so bittersweet?

How can it be a happy ending when the man who had been the center of their households for the last two, three decades, especially in the last fifteen years, was _gone_?

Stephen didn't know.

It finally sank in when they held a public service for Iron Man and a small, modest funeral for Tony Stark. Stephen and Wong had been there, amongst the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Wakandan royal family and all their other allies as they watched Pepper and Tony's daughter pay their final respects to Stark by setting his very first reactor on a bouquet of flowers and letting it drift away on the lake near their humble home in the woods.

One snap of fingers had erased half of the universe, one brought back that half of the universe and one had saved it at the cost of one great man's life. With one finger, he had sent a great man to his death and Stephen is struggling to live with it. He had done this. He had made Pepper Stark a widow and a single mother and he had made a little girl an orphan without her father who she loved so much. He had stolen the world's leading light.

The Avengers moved on. They accepted the losses of Black Widow, the Vision and Loki, in Thor's case. The Guardians of the Galaxy were off with the blond Asgardian, searching for Gamora. She was not the Gamora they were used to and they will have to start all over again, but they wanted her back. Captain Marvel had stayed for a while, visited her friend, caught up with Nick Fury a little, said her goodbyes to her friends and allies of five years and then returned to keeping other planets safe. Barton returned to his family. Lang did, too. The Black Panther had a country to run and rebuild. Valkyrie, the newly proclaimed King of New Asgard, had a people to lead. Stark's family had a large hole to fill in and were still mourning. Captain America returned the Infinity Stones from where they had taken them but stayed in the past with the love of his life and was now his proper age, sort of. It was complicated. He had passed on the shield to Falcon so the world wouldn't have to live without both Iron Man and Captain America in it.

And while the calling of Captain America can be passed on, Iron Man and Tony Stark are one. His suits remained, his AI remained, but no one could pick up his mantle. Rhodes was War Machine. Pepper was Rescue. There will never be another Iron Man.

The Sorcerers of Kamar-Taj moved on the fastest and easiest. they didn't have time for earthly struggles as they had their reality to protect.

Spider-Man couldn't really move on. His friends were all five years older than him and his mentor, his father figure, was wrenched away from him for a third time after only a minute-long, rushed conversation and a single hug. Stephen watched him from afar as the kid spent night after night patrolling the streets, going home only at the crack of dawn, tired and crying and raging that he had not been able to save Mr Stark. He couldn't move on, he couldn't even try, like the rest of the world.

Maybe that was why Stephen had contacted him first.

Because they were exactly the same.

In the weeks following the Reversal, as people called it these days, while the world - and the universe at large, when the Guardians and Danvers spread the word of Iron Man giving up his life to save them all from Thanos - was mourning and trying to get things back in order now that everyone was back, there had been numerous ... anomalies occurring on several plains of existence. From wide spread natural disasters to unhappy encounters between humans and animals, from cosmic storms to planet shifts, from star explosions of too young stars to dangerous magic fluctuations, from a rift in reality to a black hole opening far too close to an inhabited planet and many others. The barriers between dimensions was so thin it was almost nonexistent and Kamar-Taj was sending most of their sorcerers just to try and keep said barriers up while everyone else was fighting an influx of magical beasts that constantly traveled through worlds, accidentally or on purpose.

He had been so busy in the last five weeks that today was the first time Stephen would be getting a chance to rest. Or rather, today will be the first time since fighting Thanos a second time that he'd allow himself to rest. Wong had all but forced him, threatening that he'll put him under a spell to sleep for the next five days. They needed the Sorcerer Supreme at his best, Wong had reasoned, if they wanted to survive this anomaly happening in every realm of reality. Every dimension was becoming skewered and the workload had doubled since the first two weeks, enough so that they had to call in the Avengers that could answer the call to at least help fight back the beasts. They didn't have a choice. _He_ didn't have a choice in the matter of sleep, either, and he was dreading it.

He had been avoiding sleep because he knew it will be filled with nightmares. And those which won't be will be filled with the man he had killed. He had seen so many alternate futures, some in which they both survived, others in which they stopped Thanos from getting the Time Stone only for him to come back even stronger with the Mind Stone and making them kill each other, futures in which they both survived and refused to fight anymore, in which they lost so much that they just wanted to hide away and wallow in each other's misery. There had been futures in which Stephen left and it didn't change the outcome. Thanos always found him in the end. There had been futures in which he and Tony became something more and those he cursed and cherished the most. Fourteen million six hundred and five was more than enough for one to learn to love a person, in one way or the other.

No one knew, no one understood this. He didn't dare tell anyone. He let them think he avoided sleep like many others, fearing their victory had been just a dream and that he'd wake up to a nightmare or simply fearing what he will see when he closes his eyes. He hadn't slept in five weeks more than a power nap when it was absolutely needed because the things he will see will be so beautiful that it will be torture.

He would later blame his exhaustion on not noticing that the Sanctum had a guest in it when he opened a portal into the foyer of the old, sacred building. He would blame it for not noticing the power this unexpected guest radiated. He would blame exhaustion, frustration and emotional strain on almost sitting on the man sleeping peacefully on his bed when he entered the room, had it not been for the Cloak to stop him. He would blame his heartache when he, without thought, lunged for the man and scooped one still unresponsive but perfectly _alive_ Tony Stark in his arms and sobbed in his chest. He would blame it all on that that he had cried himself to sleep like that, the Cloak covering them both, bless the ancient artifact.

And he will blame sheer relief that he had cried again and collapsed there the next morning when he woke up and saw Stark was still there. He spent hours just lying there and staring at the impossibility next to him, heart pounding so hard that it drowned out all thoughts form his brain. He didn't want to think. He couldn't. If he thought, if he analyzed, he would find something that was wrong, probably something that would force him to give up this _miracle_ and he didn't want to give Tony up a second time. Or third? He _had_ given him up two times before, the first time when he let Thanos have the Stone on Titan and he became dust, leaving Tony to marry Potts and the second when he let Tony sacrifice himself for them all. He didn't want to do it a third time.

But he knew he couldn't be selfish. No, he could feel it, no matter how much he wanted to deny it, that this Tony didn't _belong_ here. He was in a near comatose state, lying there on Stephen's bed like he belong there, but he _didn't_. He was radiating inane amounts of power - one might blame it on the suspicious jewelry adorning his left hand but Stephen could feel power even beneath that, wedged so deep into Stark's very being that the man had to have been born with this magic coursing through him - he looked two decades younger at the very least than Tony had when he ... He had a bracelet with protective wards around his wrist and he actually looked at peace as he slumbered. Tony had never been that peaceful in _this_ reality.

The Arc Reactor on his chest was lighting up the room, so similar to Tony's Bleeding Edge nanites housing unit that Stephen nearly started sobbing again.

He didn't. Instead, he forced himself to let go of the other and get up. He left the Cloak of Levitation to look after their guest as he went to the bathroom, ate something and started thinking on what he should do. He knew right away that he'd have to tell the remaining Avengers and Stark's family. Wong will have to know about this, too. It may be a side effect of the anomalies or maybe even the cause of them. Everyone will want to know. They'll have to come here, as Stephen refused to remove a being with six Infinity Stones from the protective wards of the Sanctum in case something else had followed Stark here and might be looking for him. He couldn't keep Tony all to himself, no matter how much he selfishly wanted to.

The first he called was Peter Parker and the boy arrived within ten minutes. He was hysterical when Stephen explained and almost threw the sorcerer against a wall when he decided Strange was making a tasteless joke. Stephen was about to defend himself, to explain his own shock, when a yawn froze them both in their tracks.

"Man, how long have I been asleep? Sure, I know I often chat with 'em for a day or two but I feel like I've been asleep for a week! Why didn't anyone wake me?"

Both Parker and Strange looking up almost fearfully at the source of the familiar, much too missed voice, finding indeed none other than Tony Stark standing there, at the top of the Sanctum staircase, stretching and rubbing his hair into an even worse bed head. He was alive and healthy and younger than either sorcerer or teenager had ever seen him in person, the Arc Reactor glowing on his chest and the Gauntlet glinting in the early afternoon light as it reflected over the gold metal, completely different from the Gauntlet Stark had made to reverse the Snap.

Tony noticed them staring, pale faced and awed and oh so lost, and arched an eyebrow. It was such a Tony move that Stephen wasn't even surprised when Peter launched himself at his mentor and started sobbing in his chest, much like Stephen himself had done when he had seen the genius. He almost had a repeat performance but the Cloak chose that moment to settle around his shoulders and gave him a comforting squeeze as he watched a baffled Tony trying to make sense of whatever Peter was babbling through his snot and tears. The genius just wrapped the kid up in a strong, tight hug and Stephen gave in, hugging the shorter man close t his chest and sobbing himself. Iron Man looked between them in confusion but twisted enough that he could at least touch Stephen's hand with his won and that contact was more than enough to have the waterworks really flowing.

"Okay, I'm really confused right now. Did something happen? Did I scare you or something? How long have I been really asleep?! The Stones didn't keep me too long, did they? You guys don't look any older ... Did they act up? Hey! What's going on here?!" Tony was obviously getting frustrated that his rapid-fire questions weren't being answered and that only made the two cry harder and hold him tighter and Tony sighed in resignation, melting into their arms before suddenly going ramrod stiff. "Oh. This ... This sin't my dimension, is it." It wasn't even a question and that alone had Stephen finally, reluctantly letting go. Peter needed a second to step back, too, but they both almost flinched back when they were met not with honey colored eyes but rather a pair of glowing, electric blue ones."Oh. Oh! Oh? Oh." It went for a little while like this before the man froze up even more and focused his eyes fully on them, something between disbelief, horror, astonishment, worry and anger in them. "You did _what_?!"

It would seem it was time to call in the other Avengers.

00000

"Of all the reckless, irresponsible, stupid, _bullshit_ things to do, you did _what_?!" It was interesting to see the Avengers' reactions when they walked in as a group and Tony Stark, twenty years younger in looks if not in spirit, perfectly alive and fire burning in his eyes, started yelling at them scoldingly before they even passed the threshold, freezing as they registered all of this while the genius continued yelling abuse at them and their questionable intelligence levels. Not even Wong, who had just portaled in, was spared as Tony roared fury at them as though they were little children that had broken a Min dynasty vase. They were all so stunned that none of them could move or else the man might have been crushed by the force of their embraces.

He didn't look very cuddly at the moment, though.

"Tony," an old Steve Rogers finally managed to creak out, blue eyes wide in disbelief as they stared at the friend they had all thought lost to them forever. Pepper had already collapsed against Rhodey and was crying hysterically, Banner needed to brace himself against a wall - Stephen hoped it wouldn't collapse against the Hulk's body weight - and Barton kept rubbing his eyes, either to clear them of tears or in disbelief. The others were still too shocked to react beyond staring at the supposedly dead man. "H-How? You ... I ... We thought ... Just ... Just how?" Rogers took a step forwards, reaching out, looking desperate to touch and reassure himself this wasn't a dream.

The genius surprised them all by flinching away, only shocking them further when an Arc Reactor blue mandala shield burst from out of his left hand to separate him and the aged super soldier, Iron Man's gauntlet out on the right hand. "Not another step, Rogers. Don't tempt me."

The old man was, predictably enough, hurt by this and his grief must have blinded some of his self preservation instincts because he actually didn't listen and made to move one step closer, only to duck as a repulsor whined and fired, the only thing that saved him being his super soldier reflexes that had only slightly slowed, despite his old age.

"Stark, what are you doing?!" Barton exclaimed, shocked, as he and several others had had to dodge that shot, too. They all looked at the cold-faced engineer, shield and replusor still very much in place, glaring at them.

"I've warned him. Next time, I won't give you that courtesy."

Wanda stepped closer, her red magic swirling over her hands, intent on making the man fall asleep before a fight breaks out, only for Tony to look over to her, make a gesture Stephen recognized as a magic-binding spell and the red mist faded away as two blue-glowing, golden bracelets wrapped around Scarlet Witch's wrists. The woman stared down at her hands in hock before looking, scared, up at Stark. "What did you do?"

"Whoa, since when can you do magic?" Banner asked at the same time as Maximoff even as everyone else drew their weapons hesitantly, not wanting to hurt their friend but not willing to let him hurt them, either.

"Since Stephen decided to teach me and then dump Kamar-Taj in my lap after the Snap. And I only restrained your magic, Maximoff, as if you used it on me, this," he waved his Gauntleted hand, letting the shield fall but not lowering the arm with the repulsor. "Will hand you a punishment that this you probably doesn't deserve. The Maximoff of my universe might, but that's neither here nor there. So if we can all agree to respect some ground rules, that'd be delightful and no one will have to learn what Iron man being a Sorcerer Supreme entails."

"You're the _Sorcerer Supreme_?!" An incredulous Wong exclaimed, staring at Stark with wide eyes, turning to Strange for a confirmation. Stephen himself was too dumbfounded by these news to actually know anything about them, either. That ... hadn't been the case in nay of the futures he had viewed.

"Well, Vice Sorcerer Supreme, to be exact, although I'm currently acting as Sorcerer Supreme since Stephen's off to another dimension, dealing with a conquering, power-hungry warlord trying to conquer this really important mining planet that provides Kamar-Taj with minerals and metal ores for our artifacts." Tony shrugged before arching an eyebrow at them. "Can I turn this off or should I just fire?" The others withdrew their weapons and Stark nodded, retracting his gauntlet into the Arc Reactor. "Excellent, now we can go back to business. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, LEAVING THE INFINITY STONES IN MERER ATOMS FOR FIVE YEARS AND KILLING BOTH CONTENDERS AND DESTROYING THE GAUNTLET!? ARE YOU ALL _INSANE_!? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF THE REPERCUSSIONS YOUR UNIVERSE WILL SUFFER?! DO ANY OF YOU EVEN HAVE A BRAIN IN THOSE THICK SKULLS OF YOURS!? And _time travel_?! Do you have any idea how much you could have fucked up!? Especially you, Rogers! Great, you had your happy ending, but you could have destroyed the multiverse with your careless actions!"

By the time Tony was finished, he was panting heavily, his fists were clenched, half of his armor was forming around him and his eyes were glowing as brightly as the Arc Reactor. The Infinity Stones in his rather strange Gauntlet were also twinkling with power and magic seems to be stirring around him, sparks flying around his hands. It was frankly amazing how he had one from casual and civil to yelling his lungs out at the assembled group. Stephen was impressed, if a bit confused by what Tony was actually yelling at them about.

"It was the only way. We had to other Infinity Stones because Thanos had went and destroyed the original ones. The only way to do that was time travel and the only way to do that was through the Quantum Realm. We then put them back in place when it was all finished and Cap staying where he had didn't have any repercussions since there was still a Steve Rogers on the ice waiting to go through his journey. It's fine, Tony. It all turned out okay-" Bruce, who had been trying to reason with the enraged genius, cut off on his own choke as he remembered who was lost and just stopped talking.

Stark's eyes flashed brighter and every piece of electronics in the Sanctum spat sparks. "How is it _fine_? Tell me, Bruce. Hm? How is it _fine_ that the very thing that shapes our reality is unreachable, _inexistent_? How is it _fine_ that both contenders are _dead_? Who is to gather the Stones and give them to the Devourer so he can _rebuild_ the next repetition of this universe? What is there even to _give_?! No matter the energy he gathers, this universe will collapse in on itself and it will take down the neighboring ones and they will take the ones next to them in the fucking _scariest_ and most _destructive_ domino effect in existence! Congratulations, by not bothering to get the Infinity Stones back, you've just managed to _singlehandedly_ topple the fucking _multiverse_ , you jackasses!"

"What are you even talking about?" Wilson asked with an irritated tone of voice. "What contenders? What devourer? What multiverse?! That's just a scientific theory that no one even believes in!"

Tony stared at the former pilot like he was the dumbest thing to have ever crawled on the surface of the planet. He looked towards Stephen and the former doctor got the hint, taking a deep breath and explaining the actual complexities of the Mystic Arts and the multiverse sorcerers are trained to protect. It took him well over half an hour due to questions being asked and some random comments from their dimension-hopping fellow Avenger, but by the time he was finished, everyone had at least the faintest grasp of what the multiverse actually was, even if some of them don't quite really understand it.

"And now that that's out of the way, I can tell you about the Infinity Stones, their purpose, their shared destiny within each universe, Ambassadors of Infinity, Thanos, myself and, finally, Galactus." He looked at the reactions and groaned when he saw comprehension only in Wong, Stephen, Thor, Danvers and the Guardians at the last thing he had listed. "Oh, fan-fucking-tastic. This is going to take longer than convincing Reed that we shouldn't experiment with the Reality Stone."

"Maybe if you explained it would be clearer, Mr Stark," suggested T'Challa and Tony just gave an irritated huff but complied.

"Okay, this is an extremely simplified version so bear with me if you don't get all the juicy details you're hoping for. We're kind of running on a schedule and I really shouldn't be staying here for all that long. Your world is fucked up enough as it is," he ignored any complaints the others might have issued and instead got down to the matter at hand. "Existence functions a bit differently than you all assumed, as does the multiverse. The sorcerers are the closest to fully understanding it, but let's not go back into that. The point is, the multiverse is like a ... well, simplistically, like a cycle of repetitions where each one has some variations in comparison to the last one. In one universe Rogers went back in time, in another he didn't. The variations can be big or small, obvious or subtle and yadda yadda yadda. Anyway, even if there are differences, there are still some fixed points in existence that must happen, no matter what. The Infinity Stones and the Gauntlet are one of them. The Contenders are another. Galactus is an absolute must, the center point of the multiverse itself. And these things are all very closely connected."

"You keep talking about these ... contenders, but what are they?" Rhodey asked, still drinking in the sight of the supposedly dead man, even if it is an entirely different version of his fallen friend. After his violent reaction towards Steve, no one made a move to touch him, thinking he didn't want to be touched by them at all. Peter and Stephen selfishly didn't tell them that Tony had no problem in letting _them_ touch him.

"Each Infinity Stone has a special power and throughout the universe, there are people who show a sort of ... affinity towards those powers. The Stones let them use them. There are six people for each Contender who possess an extremely high affinity for either one of the Stones and those are the Ambassadors of Infinity I mentioned. Contenders, on the other hand," Tony made a gesture at himself as if to indicate just who he was. "Possess an affinity for all of the Stones. That means that they can control them. They can survive and remain sane after the power surge of using the Gauntlet. There are usually only two, but I heard Bruce over there survived something like it. But what I'm talking about isn't a momentary surge, but more like a lifelong endurance of it. You see, I can never take this thing off." Tony pointed to the golden knight-like gauntlet on his left hand and arched an eyebrow at their disbelieving stares. "I'm one of the Contenders, yes, actually I am the _chosen_ Contender, the preferred one. I have to wait for Galactus to come and et the Stones so he can restart the next repetition."

"So, to summarize, the Infinity Stones shape everything, Galactus starts it all and ends it all and the Contenders are supposed to, what? Find the Stones and wait for him?" Quill questioned a little doubtfully, but Stark only nodded.

"That's exactly it. The Infinity Stones always scatter at the dawn of the universe, usually finding their way towards where their preferred Contenders' Ambassadors will be. Because they are scattered, the Contenders must come and find them and reunite them so that, when the universe is close to its end, Galactus may take them and use their power to begin the next round, so to say. It's quite easy to understand. Matter and energy can't be destroyed, only transformed. Those laws apply here, too. Only in my universe, Thanos was going to keep the Stones himself until Galactus came to collect them and then the next repetition would have half its population missing. In my world, four of my Ambassadors died in his conquest. One was brought back, but the others were either killed or disappeared int he Snap. Five of Thanos' were killed and the final remaining one we kind of shared until she chose a side and it happened to be mine."

"And what do these Ambassadors do?"

"What do all Ambassadors do, Barnes? They represent and govern. Each and every Ambassador can use the power of their Infinity Stone, to a certain degree, of course, and usually with the permission of the Contender, as the Contender is the one responsible for everything that has anything to do with the Stones after he collects them." He waved them all off, starting to pace, a thoughtful look on his face. Stephen was pretty sure he wasn't the only one drinking in the sight of Stark so animated after having to close his casket where he had lain all too still. "Questions and answers aside, it's time I explain what you did to your world. You killed both Contenders and your Infinity Stones are _gone_. My world nearly collapsed in on itself from the sheer destruction of half of everything living that Thanos had done away with in the Snap. Our was easy to reverse. Nebula and I came back to Earth after, what, ten days? Sounds about right. And that was only thanks to a certain future-peeping sorcerer deciding it was paramount that I learn portals-"

"Why exactly did I teach you magic?" Stephen interrupted, speaking for the first time since they had called in the Avengers.

The genius inventor turned to him. "What can you tell me about Karl Mordo?"

The two present sorcerers flinched but didn't have much to say. "He left after we fought Dormammu in Hong Kong and no one's seen him or heard from him since."

"You might want to check up on that, since he was stealing magic from people who decided to settle for their miracle instead of continuing the big fight, starting with some guy named Pangborn." He didn't let Stephen or Wong react to that before he was back to talking. "I'm apparently born with some special energy in me that's supposed to help me better control the power of the Stones and Mordo decided I am a thief and that the power should be taken from me, even though the process would kill me. My Doctor Strange came and saved me when Viz, Rhodey, Spiderling and I were 'welcoming' the rogues back after T'Challa pushed for their pardons and Mordo tried to attack me. A couple of days later, Thor came back with the Asgardians and Loki and Bruce and we had a meeting with Fury, Coulson, Hill and Ross to mediate between us when Strange came knocking. He had already looked into the future by then and saw what was going to happen, so he decided to take a different course of action, starting with an alliance with me and the New Avengers. In a month, we had a whole new team, had secured Viz in case of the removal of the Mind Stone and I had JARVIS back-"

"You have JARVIS?!" Pepper, Rhodey, Happy and Bruce all exclaimed in shock and Tony looked at them weirdly.

"Of course. Only thanks to Strange, but that's a long story, one I don't intend to get into the details of. J and FRI can share if they wish."

"Actually, I'd rather wish to discuss your alternate's fate in this world with them, Sir. For I am not happy." Stephen saw the above mentioned friends flinch at the British voice that was coming out of the Arc Reactor on Tony's chest.

"Later, buddy. We have work to do," the genius offhandedly, halfheartedly chided and went straight back to business. "So, as I was saying, we had a new team, the Accords were running revised and strong, we had alliances with mutants, other enhanced individuals, Asgardians, Wakandans and Inhumans and later even with the Guardians of the Galaxy, we had dozens of contingencies running in case of Thanos coming and we _knew_ he was coming. We had a shield surrounding the planet to protect the three Infinity Stones we had on Earth, but _someone who I will not name for sake of my blood pressure_ decided they knew the best and took the shields offline, but that's not what I was talking about. Strange knew what was coming and he knew I would need to know magic so he and Wong taught me. Four months and a transfer of knowledge in the Soul Dimension later, I kicked Thanos' ass as Earth's temporary Sorcerer Supreme. Back to the topic at hand. I portaled Nebula and myself to Wakanda, we followed through with the plan Stephen left for us, walked down the road he chose and I ended up with this," he again waved around his Gauntleted hand. "Reversed the Snap and now Thanos is rotting in a Quantum-Mirror Dimension prison in Kamar-Taj. We saved my world and Thanos had nearly throughly fucked it up with halving all of life. Yet you guys somehow managed to do worse."

"Our world lived five years after the Snap." Steve pointed out and Tony gave him another look.

"And it's been five years in mine since the reversal of said Snap and everything is fine. Fantastic. I even stopped Richards from opening random dimensional portals over New York every other Thursday. Your world survived only because the intent to reverse the Snap had remained. Because one Contender was still alive and subconsciously trying to figure out if there was a way to undo it. You were given a chance, by him." Stephen started when Stark pointed directly at him without looking away from Rogers. "You may have saved your dimension, but with the death of both Contenders and three Ambassadors and the destruction of the Stones, your world is slowly dying, the veil between dimensions is so thin here I'm surprised they hadn't collided and destroyed each other yet. There's nothing holding it together anymore. It's very likely Galactus won't even make it here to at least try to Devour the energy from your world so he can restart it again. You're running out of time and I guess that's why I've been dragged here. Fucking Silver Surfer. I can't have _one_ day off."

"You said our world is dying. How do we fix it?"

" _You_ don't," Tony informed Danverse, cocking an eyebrow at her haircut. "I do."

"Then why call us all here?" Thor thundered, getting angry at what seemed to be a pointless trip. Tony gave him such a fierce glare with his eyes glowing blue that the thunder god flinched back.

"You think you can take me on, Point Break, go ahead. I dare you." When the Asgardian didn't, Tony snorted and muttered something about not having to deal with this bullshit again. "I called you here so I can call you every kind of fool and idiot there is and so that you can pick up the pieces."

"Pick up the pieces? Pieces of what? Tony?" But he wans't listening anymore, instead the Time Stone and Soul Stone were blazing like two stars as he started making hand gestures Stephen had never seen before. A quick glance at Wong told the former neurosurgeon that his companion was none the wiser, either, before the world was washed with a great, blinding light the likes of which Strange had never witnessed before and the power that pulsed under that light was enough to knock everyone down on their asses. Something cracked, something snapped, the sound of crashing and colliding and a terrible scream followed by loud gasping for breath was their only indication that something was happening, but none of them had the faintest _clue_ as to what. Then a sound that resembled groaning metal and ice sizzling on sudden fire and the light finally disappeared.

The Tony from the other dimension was still there, panting and a trial of sweat was sliding from his forehead, he was doubled over and his skin was alight with blue fire that Stephen _still_ had no idea what it was. But the sight of what was at his feet was perhaps far more disturbing because these people were _dead_. Natasha Romanoff had given her life so that Clint Barton could bring back the Soul Stone. Vision had been killed when Thanos ripped out the Mind Stone from his forehead. Loki had been killed by Thanos when he tried to save Thor on their spaceship when Thanos attacked the Asgardian refugees.

And Tony Stark had sacrificed his life so he can end the nightmare that had been haunting him since New York.

And yet all four were now lying in front of the other Tony's feet, out cold but with heaving chests, as though they couldn't get enough air into their lungs. And on Tony Stark's now undamaged left hand lay the Gauntlet he had made, four out of six Stones twinkling merrily. The Mind Stone was in Vision's forehead and the Time Stone was hovering in front of the Tony from the other dimension, who now looked sick. "Oh, shoot. I need to get out of here." He waved the Stone off towards Strange just as a portal started opening behind him, a portal of Tesseract blue, emerald green and ruby red and through stepped none other than another Strange, Thor - without the beer belly - and a perfectly fine Loki dressed in a business suit. "Good, right on time. You guys have the perfect timing."

The other Stephen stopped whatever he was going to say when he noticed the audience they had and just shook his head. "We got the Silver Surfer but then he kind of just ... disappeared not long after you went puff. I figured it was Galactus sending you out to do his dirty work for him but I din't expect this. What the _hell_ happened here, anyway?"

"It feels so much worse off than after the Snap back home." The other Loki said, peering down at his counterpart, who was starting to stir. "Perhaps it is time for us to head back. We can barely hold this portal as it is because _someone_ had always slacked off in their magic classes."

The Thor of this world looked ready to cry. He might have been crying. Stephen wasn't really paying attention. His eyes had zeroed in on the glances the other Stephen was exchanging with the other Tony and how the genius was leaning on the taller man as he was being led towards the portal.

"Not all of us were meant to be mages, brother." The other Thor said as he looked his counterpart up and down. "Why are you so fat?" This world's Thor gave an offended rumble.

"That's for my counterpart to deal with, I think." Loki grumbled and grabbed that Thor by the arm and started dragging him through the window in reality through which they came from. "You, mortal. Get the Man of Iron already so we can get back home. I have a TV show to watch." Both the other Stephen and other Tony just roll their eyes in exasperation but started making their way when the four on the floor stirred again. The Asgardian were already through when the two started making it through and Tony turned around to look at them all, eyes glowing eerily in the light of the Infinity Stones.

"Last chance," was all he said, winked at Stephen and turned to go. "Please be there to pick up the pieces. He'll need you." And with that, the two were gone and the strange portal closed behind them with a loud, strange snap. They all sated at it, a bit more than just dumbfounded, when four groans and a wheezing cough broke the sudden silence. The Avengers, the Guardians, the Asgardians and the two sorcerers all snapped their attention down to the now awake dead-until-five-minutes-ago people slowly propping themselves up on the floor on shaky arms, blinking confusedly at the gathered crowd.

"Well, bullocks," Loki was the first to speak, seeing the Avengers there and trying to scramble away, knowing their past shared history will likely make them angry at his mere presence and the Hulk was there, as far as he was concerned, so it was a normal reaction. But then Thor was there, gathering him in his arms and sobbing into his slick black hair like a baby, thanking Stark of all people for bringing him back.

"Wanda?" Vision asked in an unsteady voice and the redhead jumped upon him, almost strangling him in her grip as she cried and cried like she had only cried immediately after Pietro's death. "Hey, it's okay. I'm here. I'm here. I've got you."

"Natasha!" Clint all but hauled the Russian up and into his arms, muttering things into her ear for only her to hear, though Bucky, T'Challa, Peter and Steve may have accidentally overheard, what with their super hearing. The woman just clung back to her partner, perfectly aware that she had been dead, that she had died for him, for all of them and not understanding how she was there but not really caring, either. They were all here. All of them. Her family. The two spies didn't even bother protesting when Bruce picked them up in all of his green glory.

Somewhere behind them, Scott could be heard uttering a disbelieving and awed "Holy shit."

"Tony!" Four different voices cried and Pepper, Peter, Happy and Rhodey all descended on the genius, smothering him in hugs and kisses and tears and snot, filling his ears with their relief and heartbreak and _Thankyouthankyouthankyou_ over and over again. The engineer just held on to them, eyes darting between all of his friends and the red Gauntlet adorning his fist. There was a halfhearted "What the hell, Steve!" upon seeing the now old man and a "Easy on the sternum or I might not be so alive anymore," but it was clear that he was as confused about what was going on as everyone else. He only knew there were celebrations going on and he had the faintest impression of a different him leading him out of a very colorful, pulsating place where power had wrapped around him and would't let him go.

Honey colored eyes met blue-gray-green ones when the former neurosurgeon couldn't hold himself back anymore and collapsed on his knees beside the group hug, a crazily shaking hand reaching out for a man he had thought lost to them forever because of his doing. Unerringly, without hesitation or doubt, Tony reached back out for him, taking his hand, an interested look in his eyes that spoke of trouble for Stephen, especially if Pepper agreed. And she probably would. Tony had talked up a storm about the Doctor Wizard who had sacrificed an Infinity Stone for him, so much so that she already felt like she knew him her entire life. And to think that's only after knowing the guy for a handful of hours.

Tony pulled Strange into his family and thought of his little girl at home as the rest of the heroes all decided to pile in on the hug fest. He had thought he'd never see her again. He had thought he'd never see any of them ever again. He had made his final stand. He had met Yinsen and Maria and Howard and Aunt Peggy and Agent on the other side and they had been _so_ proud of him. He had thought he had finally earned his rest and he had. But you can't keep Iron Man down for long. The world always seemed to need him. There was so much to rebuild!

He had thought he was out of chances, but it would seem he had this last one. Looking at his friends, all crying and hugging and laughing like he'd never seen them before, he knew they had to make this one count. Squeezing the hand he was still holding, leaning into Rhodey and Happy and Steve, holding Pepper and Peter close and joining in on the laughter and the tears, Tony swore he would now do himself proud.

After all, it was his last chance to do it.

Look out world, Tony Stark is back.

**THE END**

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it and please leave a comment!


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